Bees are hardworking insects that people say extremely good things about. No wonder there is a saying "hardworking like a bee." By the way, bees are the only insects that produce food edible for humans.
Instructions
Step 1
Honey is created from nectar. The source of nectar is melliferous plants. Shrubs, trees and flowers can play their role. As soon as flowers bloom on the first honey plants in spring, the bees begin their hard work.
Step 2
Flight bees in the hive are divided into scouts and gatherers. First, the scout bee finds a source of nectar, collects a trial batch, returns to the hive and gives the collectors the location and nature of the nectar it has collected. The transfer of information takes place with the help of a special whirling dance, which gradually involves more and more bees. Then the scout goes to the place where she found the nectar, leading a swarm of gatherers.
Step 3
Bees collect nectar with proboscis. They descend on the flower in order to determine whether there is nectar on the plant with the help of the taste organs located on the paws. Directly in the oral cavity, the bee adds the secret of the salivary gland to the nectar; it is rich in special enzymes that take part in the "miraculous" transformation of flower nectar into golden honey.
Step 4
Gathering bees bring the extracted nectar to the hive, but they are not involved in putting the substance into the honeycomb. For this process, special bees are responsible, which are engaged in the reception of nectar and its processing. To convert nectar into honey, bees need to rid it of excess water and decompose sucrose into simple sugars, and then seal the cell with the finished product with wax.
Step 5
On average, nectar contains equal amounts of sugar and water. The bees simply evaporate the excess water from the substance. To do this, they carefully place small drops of nectar in the cells, filling each cell by no more than a quarter. Each new portion of nectar is suspended by insects in the form of small drops on the top wall of the cell. In parallel with this, insects improve ventilation, remove air with excess water vapor. The bees transfer the nectar as it thickens from the old cells to the more suitable ones. Ripening honey is transferred to the upper, distant part of the honeycomb, while the cells are completely filled with it.
Step 6
Further decomposition of sucrose into fructose and glucose is associated with the action of the enzyme invertase. The bee collects a drop of nectar, then releases liquid onto the straightened proboscis several times, then sucking it back into the honey goiter. During this procedure, nectar is mixed with a special secretion secreted by the bees, after which it comes into contact with oxygen. Oxygen is needed for the hydrolysis process in honey. Enzymes trapped in the nectar start the process of hydrolysis of sucrose already in the honey folded in the cells, the process takes some time. At this stage, the honeycombs are tightly sealed by the bees with wax lids.
